Major Gifts Online - Yes It is Possible!

In a session about online fundraising at the recent GetActive Software user conference, someone from Planned Parenthood mentioned that they received an online donation of $80,000 from someone who had never given to them before.  Mary Liz Keevers from WWOZ and I looked at each other and at just about the same time said, “Did I hear that right?”  Well that donor probably got some serious airline miles for that credit card contribution. 

Yes major gifts do happen online.  Here are a few ideas that may help boost your chances of getting a major gift online:

1.)  Do a good job of telling your organization’s story on your website so potential donors can easily find out how you might use a large gift if they sent one your way.  Spark some emotion in your website visitors.  Share your vision and your dreams.

2.)  Make sure that your online form is secure and that donors know it’s secure so they’ll feel comfortable giving online.

3.)  Make sure you have financial info on your website - perhaps a downloadable annual report or a pie chart that shows your revenue and expenses.  Major donors are making an investment and they want to know it will be a wise one. 

All of these things will also help you get more major gifts offline.  Research shows that many donors go to an organization’s website to do a little research before making a major gift online or offline. 

On a related topic, are you using the Internet as well as you could to conduct major gifts prospect research?

You can set up a Google Alert on your top 20 prospects and get an automatic e-mail anytime one of those people is in the news.

You can use zillow.com to look up property values for your donors (although not all parts of the country are in there) 

There are many other online resources for prospect research.  Visit the major giving section of the DEI website for more info about prospect research and moves management.  You’ll also find some very helpful info about prospect research at http://www.majorgivingnow.org, the site set up for the Public Television Major Giving Initiative.  And, I hope that the DEI Major Giving experts will chime in on the blog on this topic. 

What’s working for you?  What are your favorite online prospecting tools?  What’s the largest gift you’ve ever received online? 

posted by Betsy Harman, Harman Interactive LLC and DEI Online Membership Advisor